Teufelsanbeter oder Edelmenschen?

The Yazidis are a monotheistic religion with roots that stretch back thousands of years. Originally based in northern Iraq, many Yazidis also live in Germany and other European countries. Nevertheless, the religious community is unknown to most people. The name "Jezidi" is familiar to some only from Karl May's tales about wild Kurdistan. In these stories, the Yazidis are known to the protagonists Kara Ben Nemsi and Hadji Halef Omar as devil worshippers. Antonia Graichen examines the works of the adventure author as well as the religion of the Yazidis, showing that May does not adopt the derogatory clichés of his time: She demonstrates that the beliefs of the Yazidis are not so different from the religious convictions of the writer, such as the idea of "noble humanity.".